Where’s Mahvel? Not on Evo’s Main Stage

Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite is not invited to Evo 2018 and the community is number crunching to figure out why.

Evo is The Evolution Championship Series, a fighting game tournament taking place in Las Vegas, which features players from around the world. There are main games that are televised and side tournament for leisure plays. It’s a place where casual and competitor players come together to cheer each other on or face each other side by side.

When fans asked, ‘When’s Mahvel?’ Joey “Mr. Wizard” Cueller, tournament organizer of Evo, answered that Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite would not make it to the main stage lineup for Evo 2018 during a Twitch livestream.

Mr. Wizard said,

“We know [MvCI] was on a slippery slope and it had a lot of competition going forward and it just kind of… fizzled.”

He let it be known that he’s not downing MVC:I and Marvel has been with Evo for 15 years and eight of those Marvel was featured as a main stage game.

Mark “MarkMan” Julio also said that it would be hard to support a game that wasn’t bringing in numbers.

However, here are some numbers that prove that Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite is not bringing consistent players.

MvC:I is the second most entered tournament at the SoCal Regionals 2017 with 170 entrants. Third at the Fall Classic 2017 with 99 entrants. Fifth at DreamHack Denver 2017 with 84 entrants, fourth at Canada Cup 2017 with 169 entrants, third at NEC 18 with 163, fifth, once again at Kumite in Tennessee 2018 and fourth at Frosty Faustings X with 140. MvC:I also made it to Evo Japan 2018 with 102 entrants.

“But I don’t think people are playing it, and that’s the problem. We’ve always had to support games that people actually play, ” said Mr. Wizard.

Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite released Sept. 17, 2017. According to Capcom’s financial reports MVC:I sold one million copies from its release until December.

Compared to DragonBall FighterZ (DBFZ) sold which has sold one million copies as of February 1, MVC:I fell behind. These numbers could be a contributing factor to why MVC:I isn’t on the main stage of Evo this year. DBFZ, is on the main stage plus the producer, Tomoko Hiroki, is entering the tournament herself. The game is getting a lot of hype and support. Another thing that may be getting under Marvel players are feeling cheated is because pieces of the FGC don’t feel like any Super Smash Bros are a legit fighting game. So to see two Super Smash games on stage is having them feel some type of way. Truthfully, too many people watch, play and sign up for Smash.

Capcom isn’t getting much support to MVC:I. All of the focus could be on Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition. MVC:I has not been given any patches or updates or new characters.

The last Marvel vs Capcom game released in 2011. The community was very excited when MVC:I debuted at E3 2017. Yes, the Fighting Game Community (FGC) had a lot to say about ChunLi’s face but, that was taken care of by Capcom after the FGC caused a ruckus. Another concern of the players is the lack of X-Men or Fantastic Four characters.

Although MVC:Iis not on the main stage there will be side tournaments. The next thing potential move for MVC:I is to be put in the Capcom Pro Tour; we’ll find out on Feb. 19.